Charalambides
Ghostly, improvised folk that feels like a transmission from a haunted attic. Murky guitars and ethereal vocals dissolve into beautiful, slow-motion drones.
Ghostly, improvised folk that feels like a transmission from a haunted attic. Murky guitars and ethereal vocals dissolve into beautiful, slow-motion drones.
Charalambides creates music that sounds like it is being exhaled rather than played. It is a fragile, deeply psychedelic form of folk that prioritizes the space between notes as much as the notes themselves. Christina Carter's vocals often drift like smoke over Tom Carter's skeletal, reverb-drenched guitar lines, creating an atmosphere that is simultaneously intimate and vast.
What truly distinguishes them is their commitment to improvisation and the 'raw' take. They embrace the hiss of the tape, the accidental string buzz, and the way a melody can lose its way and become a drone. It is 'New Weird America' at its most spectral, stripping away the structure of traditional songwriting to find the spiritual residue underneath.
Start with 'A Vintage Burden' to hear their most refined balance of haunting melody and experimental drift. It serves as a perfect entry point into their world of slow-motion blues and ethereal, dusty psychedelia.
Charalambides is an avant-garde musical group originally from Houston, Texas, United States and lately of Austin, Texas. They were formed in 1991 under the short-lived name Mutual Admiration Society by Tom Carter, Christina Carter and Kyle Silfer, and later members have since included Jason Bill and Heather Leigh Murray. The band has long considered itself primarily a duo between Tom and Christina Carter. Their music contains elements typical of psychedelic music such as reverb, backwards recording, extended instrumental jamming and the use of found sounds, which led to them being described as part of the New Weird America movement. In addition to several major releases on labels such as Kranky, Eclipse Records, and Time-Lag Records, they have also released many small edition CD-Rs on their own Wholly Other label, and other small independent labels, some of which have later been re-issued (Our Bed is Green, and Historic Sixth Ward for example). Their name derives from the surname of a customer at the record shop where core members Tom Carter and Christina Carter met, who are divorced but remain together as a musical unit. They have also released albums on Kranky and Eclipse Records under their own names, as well as several small edition CD-Rs. In addition, the two have collaborated with numerous other musicians such as Loren Mazzacane Connors, Yellow Swans and Robert Horton.
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